a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Bits from Randy Rigby Interview, 12/11

On Sidney Lowe’s guilty plea for tax evasion
Well, for Sidney Lowe, this is, as we handle everyone, this is a personal matter for Sidney. We have no comment on what happens for in–our individuals in a personal matter.

I will say, Sidney Lowe is a class act and we know that he’ll handle it and take care of these matters, and that’s all we have to say.

With the future of the team in mind, should the young players get playing time? Should Rudy Gobert be on the floor instead of Andris Biedrins?
Those are the type of decisions that we have a very good coaching staff that we leave to them to make those decisions. They are in charge, and they’ve been empowered to do what we need to do to try to win games.

We have, Dennis [Lindsey] has done a very good job of, I think, structuring a strategy and a team that we feel is the right team for us, in allowing us to see these younger players develop, and putting them in a position now that they will now have, because of the lineup that we have, of getting much more time to develop, as players, but at the same time, you look at matchups.

And our coaching staff is given the charge to do, then, what it takes to develop our team, in practices and in games, but to also do what it takes to really help us to win. And to instill in our players a winning attitude. And to learn how to win and how to take losses and learn from ’em and get better.

Is the process of fighting to get time on the floor more valuable than development through actual playing time for a young player like Rudy Gobert?
Well, the NBA game is much different than the collegiate game, much different than the international game. And there’s a lot to learn. There’s a lot of nuances to learn. There’s a lot of tricks of the trade there, are to be learned.

And some of ’em can be learned on the floor; a lot of them need to be learned at practices, and from mentors, both in the locker room as well as those Karl Malones and their, the coaching staff, and the veteran coaching staff like we have, who have played the game. They’ve been very valuable in helping these players learn.

And there’s also occasions, and one thing I’m happy to see a little more of is this development we also have with the D-League. ‘Cause there are times that, a lot of times we’re on a long road trip that you have to, on those road trips, look at veteran leadership that have more playing experience of playing on the road, game after game.

And some of those times, then, you look and say, “Okay, is there a reason we should also use the D-League to try to help give some of these very young, inexperienced players an opportunity to maybe go down, and in their own way, play multiple games and have a lot of playing time?”

And so, we’re seeing more of the D-League being a tool to allow us to also develop sometimes these players, and giving them more playing experience as well. So I think it’s using all of these different tools to help in the development of that player.

Because sometimes you gotta be careful. When you get ’em on the floor and they have to have too much time on the floor, and they’re very, very raw, it can be a very grueling experience for them, that could have more negative impact on them than a positive impact.

* Is Rigby telling us something about Rudy Gobert being sent to the D-League? The last time the Jazz sent a player to the D-League, IIRC, was Kevin Murphy for six weeks last year [thanks to Tim and @OhioHadley for the correction], and before that Jeremy Evans in March 2011, for two days. Before that, the last time the Jazz sent a player to the D-League was probably Kyrylo Fesenko or Kosta Koufos, circa 2009?

On the Miller family deciding to honor Jerry Sloan
This is a decision that is made from the Miller family. It’s a de–and the organization, and we’ve talked about it. And in fact, unfortunately, t–when Jerry elected to retire,* we started talking about when’s the right time.

At the same time, we wanted to also, it’s a decision that we wanted to make with Jerry and Tammy Sloan. And I’ve had very good conversations with Jerry and Tammy over time…And it was, I was really happy that Jerry was asked to come in by the Miller family, and they had a very good visit. And we were able to come out of there saying it’s the right time. …

And it’ll be a really special occasion. I called Karl, and John [Stockton], and let them know about it. Coach [Phil] Johnson, and some others, made sure the, Frank and Scott Layden were [notified], those were very close to Jerry, so that they were aware of this occasion. And it was fun to hear Karl Malone say, “You bet I’m gonna be there.”

* Resign.

A holiday-themed (and very strange) UDQM
Our holiday packages, you can’t beat ’em right now. You think about it, our stocking stuffer for $35. Here’s a way that mom can get, for $35, and she can put half of the stocking stuffer in her husband’s stocking, the other half, in one of the children…It’s a killer package, and hopefully people look online and see our holiday packages. There’s some great ideas that will help them fill around their Christmas needs. (1280)